How much do you spend on groceries?

[mm1970]

Weird, I've been a healthy vegan for 21 years and spent approximately $0 on supplements in that time, and also never had any difficulty at all, even as a 12 year old with no internet, or a 16 year old living in a remote fly-in community in the far north of Canada.

Not everyone is going to thrive on a completely vegan diet, even if they "do it right".  Some can, some cannot.

Some do great for decades, then suddenly they aren't so great anymore.

[2Birds1Stone]

About $200/month for two adults in a HCOL area. I have data down to the dollar going back to December of 2014 ;)

Like dollar amounts per visit or breakdown by what was purchased.  I would love to see actual items bought in a month ;)

Exact dollar amounts, per month, spanning 65 months.

I have posted pictures of my receipts from Aldi in my old journal, and from Continte (here in Portugal) in my new one, just to give folks an idea of what a haul would look like.

[Photograph 51]

$70/ month for one adult and one newly adult offspring who buys some stuff for herself.

[SunnyDays]

What the heck is “designer fruit?”

[Catica]

What the heck is “designer fruit?”

square watermelon for example

[SunnyDays]

I see.  Premium prices, same taste, is that it?

[yakamashii]

Catica is correct, designer fruit is square/pyramid-shaped watermelons, apples with messages reverse-stenciled onto them by strategically blocking the sun, $200 bunches of grapes the size of golf balls, etc.

We don't buy those. "Designer fruit" is our tongue-in-cheek way of saying we don't mind shelling out for Japanese fruit, which is quite high quality even if it's not custom shaped or what have you. Even "normal" Japanese fruit is expensive; there are not really any cheap options. For example, we're ecstatic to get apples for $1 each (online, in bulk, directly from the growers, misshapen or nicked or with other defects but the same great taste), but usually pay around $1.25 and as much as $1.75 at the store. These aren't gritty, sandy Red Delicious apples the size of baseballs--they're fujis or other variants at least the size of a large person's fist.

We prioritize taste and buying domestic when possible; it's not about the nutritional value at all (I'd be surprised if the nutritional value were any different). Imported fruit doesn't look very good, isn't abundantly stocked, and often isn't any cheaper, so we nearly always go with Japanese.

[jellaba]

Single in Germany, roughly 200 Euro (220USD)/month. Eating out 50 Euro/month. Including paper products but no toiletries
Meat and eggs organic and regional, vegetables regional and seasonal. Strawberry season started 2 weeks ago but due to corona strawberries are expensive this year (east european farm workers are not allowed to travel)
Low carb, low sugar diet, lactose free dairy necessary;
My unhealthy splurges are french fries and/or potato chips a few times a month

Buying meat and veges at discounters would bring down my budget by approx. 30%, but the better taste and the better living conditions of the animals is worth the higher price for me.

[MasterStache]

@FIPurpose  We are on the same page :)

Glad I'm not the only one! I think we're in the minority for this forum. I think there's an ERE mentality on this forum especially when it comes to food.

But what is asked less is, "is the food we choose so cheap that it is actually robbing from the end of our life?" Put another way: "Are we including all externalities when we consider the quality of our food?" We have very good data on what we can expect from market returns and 30-year withdraw periods, but what would a Monte Carlo look like for certain behavior choices? We don't have that data, or at least I haven't seen anyone compile it to display it in this way. I'm willing to bet that a lifetime of more organic vegetables, organic and pasture-raised meats, dairy, and eggs would lead to at least an average +10 years. And I'm willing to bet those years would be with higher quality health too.

For something that most mustachians could easily afford to do with only an additional 1-2 years (or heck, just spend your hobby money on better food) of work in order to keep an additional 8-10 seems like something that deserves more discussion here.

I don't think "we" are in the minority. I used to be far more focused on food cost. But it absolutely resulted in lesser quality foods from questionable sources. Now I buy only pasture raised eggs despite the large cost difference. We have actually offset some of those cost by reducing milk intake (Spouse and I don't drink any milk, kids use only for cereal). We both like cream in our coffee and buy oat milk creamer. Again higher cost but better ingredients. Meat, when we do eat it, is always pasture raised. Local farmers market has some good choices.